Johan's Highway to Hell...

[p][/p][span=word-wrap: break-word;] [lt]div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418483423311_82566" class="yiv5431232197"[gt] [lt]div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418483423311_82565" class="yiv5431232197"[gt] [quote] [lt]div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418483423311_82563" class="yiv5431232197" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue-Light', 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"[gt] [lt]div id="yiv5431232197yui_3_16_0_1_1417983025484_2487" class="yiv5431232197" dir="ltr"[gt]"It’s 50 degrees centigrade and over 251km of sand, rocks and mountains lie ahead of me. I have 6 days to complete over 5 marathons in the Sahara desert carrying my own food and kit. This will be my reality on April 6th 2015 - my Marathon Des Sables! To get there my training involves running over 80kms every week, doing strength training and trying my hardest to learn how to run with over 7kgs on my back and two full water bottles on my front. To many people this will seem strange or even pointless but to me it’s a personal challenge; it’s a way of reminding me that anything is possible. In 2009 I had my last cigarette, I weighed over 100kgs and couldn’t run 5km; less than a year later I was down to 76kgs and had just finished my first Ironman race in 11 hours – “impossible” no longer registered. Then last year at a charity event in Bath I met two men who were about to row across the Atlantic Ocean hoping to raise money for the Children’s Hospice South West. I was amazed that they would put themselves through such an ordeal. I have two young kids and when I heard how the hospice supports families who go through every parent’s worst nightmare, I understood. The Charities goal is “to make hospice care available to children with life-limiting/life threatening conditions and their families across the South West of England“ - no  sporting endeavour could ever be compared to the ordeal these families cope with every day of their lives. When my place in the race was confirmed I knew that I just had to do this to raise money for those families. My goal is to try and raise £15000 - the cost of caring and supporting one family for a year. Thankfully most of us never need this help but for those who do, it’s invaluable. I know my run is going to hurt and I know there will be dark times, I’ll hit “the wall”, climb over it and hit it again. I’ll keep doing this until I finish so I can achieve my goal. Please visit my donations webpage[url=http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JohanGroblerMDS2015]http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JohanGroblerMDS2015[/url] where you can donate or follow my blog [url=http://highwaytohell2015.blogspot.com/]http://highwaytohell2015.blogspot.com/[/url] if you just want to hear about my suffering on the hills around Bath! all donations will go into a draw to win a signed Bath Rugby shirt very kindly donated by Stuart Hooper the Bath captain. Please make sure you leave contact details when you donate[lt]/div[gt] [lt]div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418483423311_82562" class="yiv5431232197" dir="ltr"[gt]A charity event will be held at Bath Racecourse on March 7th 2015 from 7pm till late. There will be guest speakers from the word of sport and adventure and from the charity we are supporting (Children’s Hospice South West), live music, an auction of some amazing prizes and lots of other entertainment![lt]/div[gt] [lt]div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418483423311_82573" class="yiv5431232197" dir="ltr"[gt]Dress code is black tie and cocktail dresses.[lt]/div[gt] [lt]div id="yiv5431232197yui_3_16_0_1_1417983025484_2488" class="yiv5431232197" dir="ltr"[gt]For details about the event, tickets and if you would like to get involved/sponsor the event please email [url=mailto:runthesaharaevent@gmail.com]runthesaharaevent@gmail.com[/url]. "[lt]/div[gt] [lt]/div[gt]   [/span][lt]/div[gt] [lt]/div[gt] [/quote] [lt]br /[gt][p][/p]